Knights look to slow Colts

Or was their dominant performance – especially when it came to running the ball – in large part because of the inexperience of their opponent?

On a day when they rushed for 480 yards, the Colts opened their season last Sunday with a 48-0 victory over the White Pines Wolverines.

Week 2 of the High School Senior Football League campaign begins on Thursday, when the Colts take on the St. Mary’s Knights in a 7:30 p.m. start at Superior Heights.

"They have a lot of speed and we have to worry about their speed,” said Knights co-coach Jim Monico, whose team dropped its opener 22-20 to Superior Heights last Saturday.

"We have a lot of team speed,” agreed Colts head coach Tom Annett. “And we’re going to try to exploit that.”

Annett admitted the Knights are “more of a veteran squad than White Pines is.”

But he also spoke of the Colts solid offensive line and the fact his 2017 team features “several very-gifted running backs.”

In Korah’s opener, Nik Gervasi, a six-foot-one, 205-pounder, who combines power and speed, rushed just eight times for 205 yards and three touchdowns.

And speed back Caleb Patteri carried six times for 118 yards, scoring once as part of Korah’s wing-T offence.

"I’m very excited about our team,” said Gervasi, a 17-year-old, Grade 12 student. “Our explosiveness impresses me. We’re hard off the ball, we caught the Pines off guard and it helped us get some big plays.”

While he realizes it’s early in the season, Gervasi also said he believes his team has “a good shot” at winning a city championship. “That’s my hope.”

One of the keys for his team, Monico noted, lies in the Knights ability to control the ball on offence. If St. Mary’s can string together some long drives, that'll keep the Korah offence off of the field.

"We want to be a little crisper, a little tougher and a little more aggressive in the trenches,” Monico added. “Korah has a couple of veterans in (Darian) Belkosky and (Devin) Segin on the defensive line we’ll have to worry about.”